Communicating Impact and Effectiveness to Stakeholders High Impact

Communicating Impact and Effectiveness to Stakeholders High Impact Partners on behalf of the Employment and Training Administration, DOL September 25, 2018

Enter your location in the chat window (lower left of screen) 2

Workforce Analyst U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration 3

TA Coach High Impact Partners 4

Grantee Presenters: Kristin Maccarrone Outreach Specialist Mira. Costa College Haley Medved Kendrick Program Director University of Alabama at Birmingham Christina Bakewicz Program Manager Monroe Community College 5

¡Distinguish between a program story and a participant story ¡Understand the importance of developing a “Program Success Story” and why its important ¡Highlight the components of a good “Program Success Story” ¡Identify key audiences with whom to share your “Program Success Story” ¡Grantee Sharing: promising practices on “Telling Their Story” 6

Let’s get to know who is on the call today. Using the poll, select the role that you play in your America’s Promise grant Choose the answer that best reflects you (or your group): 1. Authorized Representative 2. Program Director/Manager 3. Training Partner 4. Employer Partner 5. Service Provider 6. Other (please specify!) 7

Program Story vs. Participant Story Program Story: Describes the overall impact of your program Participant Story: Describes impact on a specific participant 8

Program Success Story A Program Success Story is defined as a narrative highlighting the achievements, progress, and impact of the entire program/activity. 9

Recognizing Why Success Stories Are Important ¡ Specific reasons for developing and sharing success stories may include: } Capturing progress over time } Educating decision makers about the impact of your program } Demonstrating responsible use of resources to stakeholders } Sharing best practices with other similarly-funded programs } Attracting new partners for collaboration } Priming funders to continue funding the program 10

Which Statement is More Memorable? A. Grantee D works closely with employer recruiting teams to identify open positions. B. Grantee A’s MEP program trained 280 participants. Of the 280 trained 240 individuals earned a credential and 180 were placed into employment. C. Grantee Z’s On-the-Job Training program provides in-demand training for healthcareer pathway occupations across 26 counties in central Wisconsin. 11

A Few Good Tips 12

TIPS In choosing a program/activity to highlight: ¡Remember that most programs undergo varying stages of capacity, maturity, and accomplishment. o In the early stages, you might want to provide a description of the proposed activities and the anticipated outcomes. o Highlight partnerships that are created. o Document important policy changes achieved as a result of the program, or illustrate the population being served by the program. o Emphasize short-term outcomes when highlighting accomplishments in early-stage activities. 13

TIPS ¡ As your program/activity advances: o Share your promising practices--you will want your partners and funders to know about your progress. o You may have some preliminary data from your program to show that you are definitely making progress. You can also demonstrate how and to what extent your program is reaching or serving a specific population. 14

Example of Program Progress Name of Grantee Topic Short-term Outcomes Intermediate outcomes Northern Maine Job. Right On-the-Job Training A new bio-fuel on-the -job training program was developed from the ground up with the guidance of Northern Maine’s employer partners. This field is in high demand in Northern Maine. In the first year after the training, 15 Job. Right participants attained industry-recognized credentials as “Biomass Technicians” 15

Program Success Stories are important because they: 1. Educate decision makers about the impact of your program. 2. Attract new partners for collaboration. 3. Share “best practices” with other similarly-funded programs. 4. Increase your visibility and credibility. 5. Prime funders to continue funding the program. 6. All of the above 16

Components of a Good “Program Success Story” 17

A Good “Performance Outcome Story” includes the following: A headline The hook A description of the grant program Main partners/collaborators Specific goals of the program and current results against goals o Impact on the community o o o View Program Story Example 18

q A headline o Captures the overall message of the story, includes an action verb and captures the reader’s attention. q The hook o Introductory sentence that highlights the program in a compelling way and captures the reader’s interest. q A description of the grant program o Describes the program/activity being implemented, including where and when it takes place and how it addresses an issue or problem. q Main partners/collaborators o Identify who is involved, include all of your partners. 19

q The specific goals of the program and current results against goals. o Use current data to frame the impact. q The impact on the community o Share how your program is impacting the community. Example, “our program has put 100 unemployed individuals back to work. ” 20

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Example: Partnership Program Story A good “Partnership Program Story” incorporates the following: o A headline o A hook o A description of the grant program o Main partners/collaborators o The impact on the community View Program Story Example 22

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Example: Organizational Development Program Story A good “Organizational Development Program Story” incorporates the following: o o o A headline A hook A description of the issue A description of the benefits of the organizational change The impact on the organization View Program Story Example 24

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Let’s look at one other smaller program story 27

Grantee Polling Question What’s Missing? The Drake Employment Council has seen great success in conducting hiring events at their employer partners’ location. They work closely with employer recruiting teams to identify open positions and the core skills needed for their positions. To date, Drake Employment Council’s partnership with employers supporting hiring events has led to several jobs. 28

Identifying Key Audiences to Share Your Program Success Story 29

Before you write your Program Success Story, consider who are your primary audiences ¡Who is your audience? } What is important to them? } What do they care about? } What type of outcomes will be meaningful to them? } How will they use your program success story? ¡What is the goal of the story? ¡Is the story timely? Share your answers in the chat box 30

Grantee Presentations 31

Mira. Costa College Kristin Maccarrone Outreach Specialist 32

Strategies We Use to Tell Our Story: • Press Releases • Getting involved in local/large events • Use local statistics: surprise them! • Make presentations exciting/use videos • Pitch people

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University of Alabama at Birmingham Haley Medved Kendrick Program Director 35

Strategies We Use to Tell Our Story: • • • Relationships, relationships Have some success stories in your back pocket You don’t have to go it alone Know your audience(s) Make it easy for others to share your story

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Monroe Community College Christina Bakewicz Program Manager Ann Kuhn Program Coordinator 38

Strategies We Use to Tell Our Story: • Partnerships are essential • Leverage existing relationships and community presence • Let our students tell the story • Collaboration with industry experts • Get people excited about these industries

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All Group Webinar: Innovative Support Service October 2018 41

¡America’s Promise Community of Practice Ø Your home for all of AP’s online resources, including the National Infographic. Øhttps: //h 1 bap. workforcegps. org/ ¡Story. Telling Network Ø The Story. Telling Network - IMPACTcommunity formed out of the idea that many TAACCCT projects had achieved numerous successes and had overcome great challenges. The Storytelling Network created a platform for projects to tell their own stories of successes and challenges Øhttp: //support. skillscommons. org/connect/impactcommunities/story-telling/ 42

U. S. Department of Labor Americas. Promise@dol. gov 202. 693. 3949

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